Various studies have shown that the operation of automotive headlights during the daylight hours yield advantages in safety. Typical of such studies are those done for the United States Department of Transport, National Highways Traffic Safety Administration under various contracts such as Contract No. D.O.T. HS-9-02112 or the study done for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Washington, D.C., dated May 1985 entitled "Fleet Experience with Daytime Running Lights in the United States". Also of interest is a paper presented to the Society of Automotive Engineers in February 1981 entitled "The Potential of Daytime Running Lights as a Vehicle Collision Counter-Measure".
All of these studies and many others clearly indicate that daytime running lights contribute substantially to reduction of daytime multiple vehicle accidents.
It is evident that the operation of the running lights can be assured by the vehicle operator who has merely to turn on the low beam headlights during operation, however, this solution is not ideal since it requires the intervention of the operator. It would be preferable that running lights operate automatically whenever the vehicle is operated and the engine is running.